Marquees and permanent structures in a pub garden

A marquee in a pub garden is not automatically exempt from planning control because it has canvas walls and a frame rather than bricks. Whether it needs permission turns on how long it stays up, how big it is, and how firmly it is attached to the ground, and the courts have been clear that a structure can be a building for planning purposes even though it can be taken down.

The leading authority most licensees encounter is the Skerritts case, where a marquee erected at a hotel for around eight months of each year was held to be a building. The three factors applied come from earlier rating law: size, degree of permanence, and physical attachment. A small gazebo put up for a weekend fails all three. A framed structure on a concrete base with a timber floor, heating and lighting, standing from March to October, passes all three comfortably.

When a marquee becomes development

Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 defines development as building operations or a material change of use. A marquee can trigger either.

Building operations are engaged where the structure is, on the facts, a building. Ask three questions in order. How large is it relative to the site and the host building. How long does it remain in place, counting recurring seasonal erection rather than a single period. And is it fixed to the ground by a base, anchors, services or drainage that would take effort to remove.

A material change of use is engaged separately where the structure changes what happens on the land. Covering a beer garden so that it operates as an enclosed trading area in winter, with tables, heating and service, intensifies the use even where the structure itself might not be a building. Where the pub sits in a residential street, that intensification is what neighbours object to.

Neither test has a floorspace threshold. The answer is fact-specific, which is why a lawful development certificate under section 192 of the 1990 Act is the only way to be certain in advance.

The temporary use allowance and its limits

Part 4 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015 permits the temporary use of land for most purposes for up to 28 days in a calendar year, with a reduced allowance for certain uses, together with moveable structures provided for that use.

Three limits catch people out.

The allowance runs to the use of land, and how it applies to land forming part of the curtilage of a building has been argued about for years. A beer garden attached to a public house is exactly that kind of land, so treat Part 4 as an uncertain foundation for a permanent arrangement and take advice on your own facts.

Twenty-eight days means 28 days in total across the calendar year, not 28 days per event, and the days count whether or not the structure is in use. A marquee left standing between events is using up the allowance.

The allowance does not authorise building operations. If the structure is a building, Part 4 is beside the point.

Noise from an enclosed outdoor area

The irony of covering an outdoor area is that it often makes the noise problem worse rather than better. Canvas and clear PVC provide very little sound insulation, while the structure encourages later use, higher occupancy and amplified music that the open garden would not have carried.

Customer noise is not plant noise, so an assessment following BS 4142 is the wrong tool for voices and music from patrons. What an environmental health officer will want is a description of the source, measured or predicted levels at the nearest residential facade, an account of the existing background at the relevant times, and a mitigation scheme. A noise impact assessment for this kind of proposal should address music levels inside the structure, the door and opening arrangements, smoking area displacement, and the dispersal of customers at closing time, which is frequently the real complaint.

Where nearby homes were built after the pub, the agent of change principle in national policy places responsibility for mitigation on the newer development. It does not protect an existing operator who then intensifies the use. Adding a covered structure and extending hours is an intensification, so the principle offers less protection than licensees expect.

Heating, lighting and their effects

Heating changes the seasonal pattern of use, which is what turns a summer overflow area into a year-round trading room. Gas heaters raise separate regulatory issues under fire and licensing regimes, and electric heating needs a power supply that may itself require excavation.

Lighting is the quieter problem. Festoon lighting, heater glow and internally lit structures produce light spill and sky glow that reads very differently at 11pm in a residential street than it does in a photograph. Where the setting is sensitive, a lighting assessment against the Institution of Lighting Professionals guidance on obtrusive light, using the correct environmental zone for the area, answers the point before it becomes a reason for refusal. Specify luminaire positions, mounting heights, colour temperature and a curfew time.

Ventilation matters where food service moves into the structure. A covered area with cooking or a servery may need extraction, and the flue termination then becomes a design issue in its own right.

Conservation area and listed building issues

If the pub is listed, a marquee within the curtilage can affect the setting and its fixing can affect the fabric. Listed building consent is required for works affecting the character of the building as a building of special interest, and anchoring a frame into historic paving or a boundary wall will need consent. Work carried out without it is a criminal offence, not merely a breach of planning control.

In a conservation area, the assessment turns on whether the structure preserves or enhances the character and appearance of the area, under section 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Permitted development rights are narrower, and a large structure visible from the street will be judged on its appearance rather than on its temporariness. Where heritage issues arise, a short heritage statement assessing significance and the effect of the structure is worth preparing even for a modest proposal.

Hours and capacity conditions

Where permission is granted, expect conditions. The usual set covers hours of use of the structure, which are often tighter than the hours of the pub itself, the maximum number of covers, a prohibition on amplified music, a requirement to keep sides and doors closed after a stated time, external lighting controls, and sometimes a requirement for a management plan covering dispersal and smoking areas.

Negotiate these before the decision. A condition restricting use of the structure to 21:00 may make the investment pointless, and the time to say so is during the application rather than through a later variation. Where the council is cautious, a temporary permission for a trial period with a monitoring requirement is often a better offer than a refusal, and it gives you a complaint record to rely on next time.

Planning conditions and the premises licence are separate. A licence permitting music until midnight does not override a planning condition requiring the structure to close at 22:30, and the more restrictive of the two governs in practice.

Retaining a structure after a temporary consent

Temporary permissions expire, and the structure has to come down unless a further permission is granted. Applying to retain it is a fresh application judged on the same policies, with one advantage: you now have evidence.

Assemble that evidence deliberately during the temporary period. Keep a log of complaints received and how they were resolved, records of noise checks, the actual hours operated, and any changes made to management. A retention application supported by two years of operating history and a clean complaint record is a different proposition from the original speculative one.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

PlanScope drafts the supporting documents for applications of this kind, structured to UK planning policy and flagged where site-specific evidence is needed. Acoustic and lighting assessments should be prepared or reviewed by a suitably qualified professional. Enter your postcode to see which reports your site needs. Reports should be reviewed before submission, and we do not guarantee planning approval.